


Experimentation

by pickledragon



Series: Pressing Matters [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alphys Remembers Resets, Alphys-Centric, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Papyrus (Undertale) Remembers Resets, Sans (Undertale) Remembers Resets, Undertale Neutral Route, aka the fic where, also, and this happened, but in passing, characters die off screen but thats just, i had a lot of feels about Alphys as a scientist and a wholly realized creation, people don't give alphys enough credit im gonna try and fix that, pre slash alphys and undyne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 01:21:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17457893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pickledragon/pseuds/pickledragon
Summary: Alphys is, above all, a scientist. She may watch anime with religious fervor and make horrible Undernet shitposts in her free time, but she isgoodat her job.She knows what they say about her, behind her back.But when she stands there, time open before her, she resolves to collect data. Each experiment, intentional or not, brings new opportunities to change certain variables and observe others.Alphys is a scientist, after all.





	Experimentation

**Author's Note:**

> Do you ever say you're not gonna continue a fic but then you remember how much you love a character and then spit out 1.5k words?? Yeah that's what happened.

Undyne's image is grainy on the Waterfall camera. It's status as one of the few cameras between Hotland and Waterfall subject it to particularly extreme conditions. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, none of the water on the lens conceals the human's fight. 

She's losing. 

Alphys can't help but remember a couple hours ago, Undyne's hand on hers, promising that she would win. On the monitor, the human dies on the tip of a pointed spear and Alphys realizes she hasn't moved from her position for at least an hour of heated combat. A weight lifts off her shoulders. She's overjoyed, of course, and relieved. Now—

The world stutters and Alphys blinks. This is new. But she doesn't have any time to ponder that feeling because the human is back up again and ready to fight. 

Undyne falls. And Alphys is the monster who would be queen. 

Asgore is gone and so is Mettaton and Papyrus and Und—well, the list goes on and on. There's no one else for the job. And she has a promise to keep. 

The crown is heavy on her head and the Underground in her hands. Sans is there, and they hold each other up. It's not enough.

The world stutters. 

The first time Alphys starts remembering, it's a Tuesday. She's rolled out of bed, changed into a fresh lab coat and turned on her playlist of inspirational anime openings. Alphys prepares to head down to the True Lab. Hence the playlist. 

She's considering just going back to bed for a while longer, she's obviously not ready to face the day. But before she can even open the elevator door, her mind fills with static and and then it all comes flooding back. 

A human came and killed. She lived out half a year as the leader of the Underground. And now everything is back to normal. What should she do?

Alphys is, above all, a scientist. She may watch anime with religious fervor and make horrible Undernet shitposts in her free time, but she is _good_ at her job. Back in her earliest days as Royal Scientist, she spearheaded technological development all across the Underground. Machines and hypotheses and the entire world open before her, beating with a mechanical heart. 

She knows what they say about her, behind her back. Alphys hasn't done anything like that in a long time, not since—

But when she stands there, time open before her, she resolves to collect data. Each experiment, intentional or not, brings new opportunities to change certain variables and observe others.

Alphys is a scientist, after all.

\-----

**One:**  
The human always works in threes. Three main trips through the Underground, three areas before they reset, three runs of a given type before they're all sent back to start, anywhere from days to months.

 **Two:**  
Sometimes, things she does matter. Passivity is easy, too easy in this scenario. Too many times, Alphys plays out the script and lets herself fall into despair. But sometimes, she fights back. She'll move electrical barriers in Hotland and watch the human stalk around the exits in frustration, their weapon swinging wildly through the air. Sometimes she invites Undyne to the Lab just to lock them inside. Turn off all the cameras and stay cuddled up with her on the bed, watching anime. No Underground, just the two of them. 

Nothing really changes: the human always makes it to Asgore eventually. But Alphys doesn't think she imagines the frustrated look in the human's eyes everytime they reset. 

It feels good. 

**Three:**  
It's the human. She's sure of it: throughout all of the runs, they're the one constant. Alphys has seen them in Snowdin and Hotland and Waterfall and they're the one being in the entire Underground that could be the catalyst for this endless loop.  
Alphys spent her life studying Determination. She hurt people. It's only fitting that she's trapped by it now. 

**Four:**  
Sometimes, Alphys heads down to the True Lab to pin up her findings. The Amalgamates cozy up to her when she stays late into the night, empty ramen bowls and chewed pens littering the ground.  
Something curious: sometimes, when she leaves her clipboards and her notecards by the Determination Extractor (once her pride and joy), they're there when she comes back next run. It saves her hours of re-annotating her notes and helps connect the dots between disparate runs. 

**Five:**  
Someone is watching her. When she moves the camera too quickly to have been able to predict the movements of the human naturally, there's a shadow at the corner of the screen. She can't even walk in Waterfall anymore without whispers echoing behind her about meddling and truths better left buried.  
Her visits to Undyne slow. She finds yellow petals in the corners of the Lab and locks the elevator door tight at night. Hoping, wishing that she's wrong. 

**Six:**  
Her time to solve this is limited. After two runs, the memories fade and she's left with the scraps of paper and lists of facts hung around the true lab like lights in the dark. 

The human is getting faster. 

And bored.

\-----

Alphys' walls are covered in notes and the human is in Snowdin. Her math says that this should be a Pacifist run, so she shoves the paper delicately into a filing cabinet and hopes that the human doesn't check it.

It's been 37 runs and she is nowhere near solving this puzzle. Alphys knows the shape of the problem, but no way to make it into something that will stick. 

She remembers long nights spent studying from dump-stained textbooks and pouring over endless lines of code right beside a blurred face in her memories. When in doubt, ask for help. And Alphys is nearly at her wit's end. 

Out of everyone, she chooses Sans to come clean to. Alphys probably couldn't explain why even if you held her up to a blue attack. Maybe it's something to do with her first run. The human had never done that particular one again, thank the Angel, but she has the records. When everyone else was gone, Sans was there, and they supported each other. She imagines she can feel the emotions still now, reading through old notes, even though the memories are long gone. 

So one day, she straightens her lab coat, and heads to Grillby's. The ride on the ferry is uneventful, which in no way prepares her for the feeling of stepping into a crowded bar at rush hour. Nice one, Alphys. 

Since starting her observations, she's become more confident in her actions, but altogether worse in social skill. Entire runs cooped up in the Lab with only Amalgamates for company don't exactly make for good interaction. 

She sees the skeleton cracking jokes on a barstool and every patron bursting into laughter. Alphys tries not to flinch at the cacophony and makes her way towards him. 

"Hey Alphys." He winks at her and slides a half-eaten burger smeared with ketchup over to her as she takes her seat. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Uh, um. Yes. That's in fact. What I wanted to do." God, she's bad at this. Taking five seconds to ruin everything must be a new record. She takes a bite of the burger to mentally regroup.

Sans gives her an understanding look. Oh yeah. He's probably spent most of his life being awkwardly late for meetings, he and his brother both. 

Huh. Alphys lets that odd knowledge of what the brothers' attendance habits were like (despite never working with them?) rattle around and sets it aside. She has more important matters to address. 

"Um, this is going to sound. Well. Maybe. Slightly insane." He opens his mouth to interrupt her, but she presses onwards. "But I promise you, I wouldn't bother you if it wasn't important. Really."

"Well Alphys, I've been around the Underground a few times. I doubt there's much that can surprise me nowadays." There's humor in his voice, sure, but below it an undercurrent of steel and weariness. 

Alphys looks at him, really looks for the first time in months. His smile can't hide the dark circles underneath his eye-sockets and he leans heavily on the counter. She knows the look: she's wearing it herself. 

This was the right decision. 

"Sans, have you ever lived the same 3 months again? Days even. Just. Um. Like a switch flips and suddenly you're back where you were a while ago with no explanation?"

The bar is still incredibly loud, and she keeps her voice low, but Sans' eye lights dim. "I don't know what you're talking about. Been reading too many manga?" His tone is lighthearted but his shoulders tense. 

"You. You heard me right." Alphys steels herself. "Something hasn't been right in the Underground. For a long time. And I. I've been trying to solve it for a while but I can't seem to. Um. At least—"

"Not alone," he finished. Sans' eye-sockets gutter out with an audible pop. No one seems to notice.

Alphys gives him a small smile.

\-----

On Sans' 478th run and Alphys' 38th, they make their way down to the True Lab and get started. 

**Author's Note:**

> learningthomas.tumblr.com
> 
> ;)


End file.
